Cruz greatest day turns as Giants fall late

A pass tips off the hands of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, left, before being intercepted by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner (39) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. Browner returned the interception for a touchdown. The Seahawks won the game 36-25. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
— AP

A pass tips off the hands of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, left, before being intercepted by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner (39) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. Browner returned the interception for a touchdown. The Seahawks won the game 36-25. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
/ AP

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (80) fumbles the ball as he is tackled by Seattle Seahawks defensive back Walter Thurmond (28) and Earl Thomas (29) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Seahawks won the game 36-25. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)— AP

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (80) fumbles the ball as he is tackled by Seattle Seahawks defensive back Walter Thurmond (28) and Earl Thomas (29) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Seahawks won the game 36-25. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
/ AP

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. 
Victor Cruz had the sellout crowd calling his name and dancing in the aisles. He had the New York Giants on the verge of another fourth-quarter comeback win.

Then the greatest day in his short NFL career slipped off his fingertips.

Cornerback Brandon Browner gathered in a pass that bounced off Cruz's hands and sped down the right sideline on a 94-yard interception with 1:08 to play as the Seattle Seahawks thwarted yet another late Giants rally and won 36-25 Sunday.

"We were driving, we were in there," a disappointed Cruz said after seeing career highs of eight catches for 161 yards, including a spectacular 68-yard TD catch and run that ended in an end zone salsa, go for naught. "We sensed we could win the game on that very play. You always want to win the game. When you do something to negate that, it wipes out the good and you see the bad."

After the Giants (3-2) fell behind 29-25 on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Whitehurst to Doug Baldwin with 2:37 to play, Eli Manning drove the Giants from their 20 to the Seattle 5 on consecutive passes of 41 and 19 yards to Cruz.

After a false start against tackle Will Beatty on first down, the Giants bunched three receivers on the left side and Manning (24 of 39 for 420 yards) tried to hit Cruz on a look-in. The pass was a little low and Cruz reached to pull it in.

"I thought I gripped it, but as soon as I went to grip it in, I got hit and it bobbled up in the air," said Cruz, who also lost a fourth-quarter fumble deep in New York territory that allowed Seattle to tie it at 22.

"I knew it was all downhill from there because there were two guys there and one of them was going to pick it off."

The ball deflected off Seattle safety Kam Chancellor, popped in the air and went to Browner. Cruz grabbed at Browner's foot as he headed downfield, but he could not hold on, and the Giants' three-game winning streak was over.

"It was almost like slow motion, the tipped ball and it landed in my hands and it was a footrace from there," Browner said.

Whitehurst, who replaced the injured Tarvaris Jackson in the third quarter, led the Seahawks (2-3) on an 80-yard touchdown drive, which he capped with his pass to a wide-open Baldwin with 2:37 left. The Giants seemed to stop on the play after defensive end Osi Umenyiora jumped offside.

"I don't think there was confusion. You've got to keep playing," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "You're a defensive team making a penalty."

The Giants staged fourth-quarter rallies to win their last two games against Philadelphia and Arizona, but they made too many mistakes to get a third straight.

"This week, the sloppiness of the game, you're not going to win football games when you're handing people the ball at point-blank range," the coach said.